Oh the Irony!

In the past two weeks I have received three emails warning the American taxpayers of a pending abuse of taxpayer funds in the form of a Puerto Rico bailout and as well as a potential tsunami of other bailouts involving unions and other municipalities, counties and states. The irony of these missives is they are authored by that great champion of taxpayer dollars, none other than

Some of the more ironic paragraphs include:

You see, for decades big spending politicians have used the taxpayers of Big Government-dominated states like California, New Jersey, Illinois and New York for their own personal gain.

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IrishPat

Patrick Malone is a Business Advisor and Leadership Mentor headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia. He co-hosts Mountain Mornings, a weekday local news program, and hosts This Week in Blairsville a weekend program on WJUL/WJRB. He is a mentor in Union County High School, President of his church Council and President of LMMA Inc. a non-profit focused on motorcycle awareness and safety.

7 Comments

Saltycracker

Lots of political speak to opine from, it’s not a bailout unless we send money or guarantee the debt. Sending in the A team to advise on restructuring debt depends on who takes the haircut or assumes the risk.

On setting precedents, Surely you don’t support bailing out Illinois, California and others ?

This is a mess! PR has a 70% debt ratio to GDP, way out of whack. This will be a mad scramble, who takes the biggest loss. Some of the bonds are guaranteed by tax increase like the Bobo deal. This is why I ask for details on budgets, bond structure…..We have many in both parties, playing kick the can, and unwilling to ask the tough questions, verse being tribal cheerleaders. I will give people like Charlie Harper and Will Kremer credit, for not being scared to point out the math problems. The PR issue is not isolated, we have many places here with similar issues, as well as federal programs like Medicare Part D, SS, Student Loans…..that are ticking time bombs of debt obligations, leaving tax payers holding the bag.

…………Puerto Rico has the population of Oklahoma and an economy smaller than Kansas. It also has more debt — $70 billion — than any U.S. state government except California and New York. This fact and the reasons behind it help explain why the territory has tumbled over a fiscal cliff, and why the resulting dismay extends to investors far beyond the Caribbean island. It’s a tale of financial mismanagement, Wall Street complicity and good intentions gone awry……….

………Republican lawmakers say a control board could make the politically unpalatable decisions Puerto Rico needs to repair its public finances. The island-wide government pays for schools and education — items normally handled by local communities in the states — and agencies that provide water and electricity are intertwined with the territory’s funding. It’s already closed scores of schools and proposed tightening an inefficient tax collection system, though critics say it hasn’t done enough. The Obama administration and Puerto Rico’s Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla say federal oversight must be paired with a plan to give the island access to an orderly bankruptcy process that would help cut its liabilities and avoid protracted litigation. Bond investors and insurers oppose the move because it could force them to take losses; the conservative Heritage Foundation characterizes it as a bailout. There’s concern that allowing Puerto Rico to use a court-ordered reorganization without a control board would fail to address the island’s budget imbalances and overdue financial reports. …………

Wall Street banks, took the bonds, pocketing hundreds of millions, probably assuming the Hamiltonian Federalists aka Democrats would eventually back their risk if it went sour. Their hedge insurance is big donations and speaker fees to friends of Bill. That is not conspiracy today, it is smart big business politics in a nation going left.

In fairness no shortage of Neoliberal policy makers from either party. How many times I hear from politicians wanting to deregulate government backed loans. And now both parties have us guaranteeing derivatives, that was a key driver in the last collapse. This will make the PR issue look like rounding error.

……….As one of its final acts last week, Congress passed a spending bill for 2015. Tucked into it was a provision to loosen banking regulations on hedges or bets known as derivatives or swaps. These are financial instruments that essentially allow banks to hedge bets on things that rise and fall in value, such as mortgages, currencies and interest rates.

After the financial crisis, the Dodd-Frank Act required big banks like J.P. Morgan to move some of those derivatives, or bets, to other banking units that don’t have a federal backstop or guarantee from the government.

The idea: No federal guarantee means no bailout. But the provision passed last week essentially cancels it and says banks don’t have to move those swaps around anymore……..

“It’s absolutely imperative that we support Israel — our brothers and sisters in the Middle East — not only because of the geopolitical reasons there, which are strong enough in themselves, but because of a promise God made to Abraham,” Broun said, citing Genesis 12:3. “He said, ‘I’ll bless those that bless you and I’ll curse those who curse you.’ America must support Israel to continue to be blessed.” ── Paul Broun, Senate Primary Debate, 2FEB14

Putting aside whether you think a nebulous link in Genesis or if the Old Testament should be used at all as the guiding direction of a secular country’s foreign aide budget. We currently send $3.15B to Israel each year ($500 per each Israeli citizen), and they are not even an official US Territory. Like Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday, Broun’s hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Oh, and to Mr. Broun, Israel’s enemies claim their God is also the God of Abraham.